In a time long before Peter Jackson's
Lord Of The Rings trilogy boosted sword & sorcery movies back
into highest realms of success, John Milius was the unquestioned king of
the genre with his incredibly successful Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Conan The Barbarian
(1982). The role of the muscle-packed barbarian Conan was perfect for
Arnie who only speaks less than 200 words in the entire movie. Not sure
if that's the reason why many people consider this to be the best
Schwarzenegger movie ever but I would not rule it out as one important
factor. The story is a relatively simple revenge-plot: Young
Conan's parents are killed by the evil illusionist Thulsa Doom and
Conan's life is then driven by the wish of tracking down and killing
Doom. He grows in strength during decades in slavery, earns his freedom,
finds friends in thieves Subotai and Valeria and fights witches and
other evil to ultimately get what we wants. His journey of revenge was
executed in a quite theatrical and amazing way with beautiful panoramas
of raw landscapes and some amazing set buildings and decorations. This
was still the time when large temples were not just CGI but real made
architecture. The film became such a surprising success that it spanned
a sequel and several imitators.

The score:

Universal's producers first pushed for
European legend Ennio Morricone to score Milius rude epic of violence
and sex. Especially executive producer Dino De Laurentiis was aiming for
a popular music approach to the film but John Milius instead wanted to
go with a totally unknown talent from the very beginning who he felt
would be the perfect choice. It turned out to be Basil Poledouris with
whom he worked with successfully on the surfer drama Big
Wednesday (1978), resulting in Poledouris' first noteworthy score
for a mainstream picture but the real breakthrough for the composer
would become Milius' sword & sorcery epic. The director envisioned the
score as operatic and as a carrying element to compensate the small
amount of dialogue from the very beginning and thus Poledouris was
involved early on even before location shooting began to provide Milius
with several key themes of the score. And there are a lot of really
beautiful themes in this amazing piece of epic scoring which not only carries the
movie almost entirely and without flaw but is an incredibly powerful
listening experience on album. Poledouris recorded the score in Italy
with two orchestras and a choir which resulted in the raw sound that
became so characteristic for the recording. It's the sound of the days of high
adventure and a true film music classic not to be missed.

Already the introduction with "Anvil Of
Crom" unleashes sheer power with timpani strikes and heavy percussion
joining forces with grim horn fanfares. It's the Crom-theme that we hear
and a first musical identity for Conan's character follows when the
piece suddenly switches to incredibly lush strings performing a warm,
lyrical theme for the riddle of steel that drives Conan forward before
the percussion and horns continue their powerful roll. It's the
particular romantic riddle-theme that opens "Riddle Of Steel / Riders Of
Doom" in a toned-down variation for an emotionally intriguing solo
woodwind performance as we see young Conan with his father as he
explains the riddle to his son. Quite soon Poledouris adds grim horn
fanfares to note the arrival of Doom and his myrmidons. Demonic Carmina
Burana-esque choirs of grand proportions join the orchestra while
trumpets are rolling fanfares around the chanting and percussion gives
the piece a furious speed as it develops into one of the most amazing
musical tour-de-forces in film history. It's incredibly dramatic and
powerful music and I have never met one single person calling himself a
fan of film music who did not like this amazing piece. "Gift Of Fury" is
a piece for Conan's first encounter with Doom. It's a heavy and slow
piece with deep male choirs singing Latin vocals and showing Conan's
inner feeling of mourn for his dead parents and also his growing desire
for revenge. The next classic piece is "Wheel Of Pain" which starts in a
small scale for woodwinds and builds up to a kind of march as Conan
grows stronger and stronger during his times in slavery and compulsory
labour. Crashing percussive effects like a gong scratched by a triangle
stick are creating a feeling of workforce and threat as the piece builds
up. It's so cool to hear more and more instruments slowly chiming in and
then the whole ensemble suddenly slows down for a moment only to burst
into a mighty fanfare as we see Conan as a grown-up - only one of the
countless goose-pumps-moments in this film music masterpiece. A sense of
majesty from a time long forgotten embodies "Atlantean Sword" with the
riddle-theme briefly shining through some intriguing string music as
Conan finds his first companion: an old broadsword. Mighty fanfares are
swelling as Conan frees it from rust and dust.

"Theology / Civilization" has always
been my personal all-time favourite cue from this score. I love the way
the English horn and woodwinds slowly hint the theme for Subotai at the
beginning of the cue and then suddenly they start speeding up followed
by a large swelling of the strings picking up the playful melody as we
witness Conan and his new friend are running through a stunning
panorama. Clearly sone of the most beautiful travelling-music I have
ever heard. Poledouris also developed a bittersweet love theme for the
romantic relationship between Conan and Valeria called "Wifeing" which
makes stunning use of the riddle-theme for lush strings. The late
composer simply had a hand for composing such ambivalent thematic pieces
as the love theme from Conan The Barbarian. It's certainly a
romantic composition but also has a strong sadness to it as if there is
a higher fate at work which will eventually part the lovers. While Conan
loves Valeria, he is still driven by his wish for revenge which leads to
"The Leaving / The Search". That particular cue is playing around with
the bitter side of the love theme, resulting in yet another piece of
beautifully written, magnificent film music. "Mountain Of Power
Procession" is a very special kind of film music that I use to call
semi-source-music. It's an amazing set piece of percussion and fanfares
with an ancient medieval touch for Thulsa Doom's temple setting and the
crowd of pilgrims. It's as if there is a large orchestra sitting right
behind Doom's temple, so even though we can't see the source of the
music on-screen, it is still believable as a presence within the context
and setting - ergo semi-source-music. There are a couple more cues with
a semi-source-music nature coming later in the score. "The Tree Of Woe"
starts with sustained notes played by horns and strings as Conan is
crucified on a tree in the hot desert. Subotai's theme suddenly comes in
with a cheerful fashion first on English horn and then by the full
ensemble as we see Conan's companion is coming to the rescue. A
downright sad variation of the love theme at the end of the cue forms
the transition to "Recovery" in which the riddle-theme is played
mournful on woodwinds backed up by sensitive choir as Conan is fighting
with death.

Now comes another example of
semi-source-music with the operatic "The Kitchen / The Orgy". Already
the cue's name suggests that it's divided in two parts. The first one
represents the scenes in the dark kitchen of doom where slaves are
working for Doom's catering. A male choir is brawling festive Latin
vocals while the melody is lifted from the "(...) / Riders Of Doom"
piece heard at the beginning. I always saw the singing of the choir as
some kind of working song performed by the slaves in the kitchen. The
second part of the cue is a meditative, almost hypnotic piece for
strings while the orchestra is always repeating the same basic melody to
intensify the large orgy of naked bodies in Doom's throne room. It's as
if every piece of this score is a highlight in one way or the other and
so is "Funeral Pyre" which takes the love theme and the riddle-theme and
turns it into a grand, emotional piece that perfectly embodies the
feeling of loss. According to Poledouris' comments about the piece from
the DVD music featurette, the night before he composed it he had a dream
about loosing his family in an accident. Shows what an important source
of inspiration dreams are for every artist. "Battle Of The Mounds"
accompanies the battle preparations of Conan and the arrival of Doom's
men with a lengthy sequence of large choral battle music that was
certainly an inspiration for Howard Shore when he had to compose battle
music for his Lord Of The Rings scores. The choral mayhem and theme for
Doom's men from "(...) / Riders of Doom" is repeated again in a much
more furious manner at the end of the cue. If I am not mistaken, "Death
Of Rexor" consists of mainly unused music though is an amazing summary
of material from the score including a powerful statement of the
riddle-theme, a statement of the love theme and a moment of the choral
music heard in "Gift Of Fury" with some more elegiac choral music
following as Doom is trying his mind tricks on Conan but ultimately
fails. Mourning choir is heard at the beginning of "Orphans Of Doom /
The Awakening" which is yet another example for semi-source-music
because the mourning carol can easily come from Doom's disillusioned
pilgrims. There is also a strong sense of regret in the music as we see
Conan sitting on the stairs of Doom's temple. He found revenge but lost
so much for it. Another ambivalence that is understandable only through
Basil's music. He builds things up one more time starting with a single,
falling 5-note figure for horns that is rising to an astonishing
epilogue with a rousing coda. This is how the real classics have to end.

RATING:

Score as
heard in the film:
94%

Score as
heard on CD:94%

TOTAL:
94%

The presentation:

Several issues and re-issues of this
score exist out there. The most commonly known release is probably the
Milan Records version which is significantly shorter than this expanded
1992's re-issue from Varese Sarabande Records. It's surpassing the Milan
album with nearly 20 minutes of marvellous material from this classic
and also includes a small analysis of the film and score by Kevin
Mulhall. Sadly, the album isn't without flaws. Sound quality is overall
a little more muffled than on the Milan version and even though there is
more music on it, a good chunk of material still remains unreleased and
probably will never see the light of day because the master tapes have
since been deteriorated according to insider sources. In a way this
album is a missed opportunity which leaves a re-recording as the only
option to make the complete material available in the future. I guess
this 67 minute album was the best they could do back in 1992. If only it
would be still available. The album is now a sought-after collectors gem
which rarely sells for less than 50 euros on Ebay or Amazon's
marketplaces. Only the shorter Milan version is still widely available
at a regular price tag.

Presentation by
the Label:76%

Summary:

If there is one score that Basil
Poledouris will be always remembered for then it is Conan The
Barbarian. It's raw and brutal but never unbearable, it's lyrical
but never cheesy and its the entire
foundation that is holding the movie together and makes it believable.
Milius' sword and sorcery epic simply would not work without this
powerful music that is guiding the audience with emotional material that
makes Conan's inner feelings understandable and makes the character as
well as the long forgotten world he lives in believable. On album, the
score is a hair-raising event that grabs you from the very first note
and does not let go until the last track finished. It's up to you
whether you want to spend 15 euros on the shorter Milan album or more
than 50 euros on the long OOP expanded album from Varese Sarabande -
just buy and enjoy some of the most powerful music a fantasy adventure
has ever received. No film music fan should live without this classic
score.